May 2008 graduate accepted into mathematics Ph.D. program at the University of Iowa

LEXINGTON, Ky.—May 2008 graduate, Chris Mooney, a mathematics major from Lexington, was accepted into the Ph.D. program in mathematics at the University of Iowa as a Presidential Graduate Fellow.

The University of Iowa was the winner of the 2008 American Mathematical Society Award for an Exemplary Program or Achievement, and the Presidential Graduate Fellowship brings 30 of the most promising doctoral students to the university each year.

As a first-year student at Transylvania, Mooney planned to major in sociology and mathematics.

“My father was a professor of sociology, so my plan was to do demography work or quantitative sociology,” he said, “but I added a physics minor, and then history, so I ended up with three minors and a major in math.”

The summer after his sophomore year, Mooney conducted research at Williams College and realized that research was the work he wanted to pursue. After his junior year, he completed research in algebra at Central Michigan University. “I got to be in the same room as some of the greats. It was very rewarding,” he said.

With a focus in algebra and group theory, Mooney plans to become a college professor.

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